Cordon Bleu Spice
Priya Wickramasinghe was born and grew up in Colombo, Sri Lanka. She came to Britain thirty years ago with her husband. After a spell in Cambridge, she settled with her husband and children in Cardiff.
Priya doesn't rate Indian restaurants in Wales
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Priya's favourite eating places:
Do you enjoy eating out?
I enjoy eating out, but am disappointed with Indian restaurants in South Wales. Indian food in this country is driven by Western perceptions of what it should be. I remember doing research about food colouring in Chicken Tikka Tandoori. The restaurant managers felt that if they didn't colour their food, then people wouldn't buy it.
There is a myth here that the hotter the food the more authentic it is, and eating curry is always an affair to brag about. India is bigger than Europe and there are many regional variations. A lot of Indian food isn't hot at all. Also, there is more emphasis on vegetarian food in India. In Sri Lanka, fifteen per cent of the population are from South India where vegetarian specialities are predominant. In contrast, Indian restaurants here offer mainly meat and carbohydrate dishes. Vegetable dishes are termed as side dishes which I have never understood.
How important is food in your life?
I never learnt to cook in Sri Lanka as we had servants. When I found myself in Cambridge with a husband to feed, I decided to teach myself to cook. Cooking and writing about food is now my passion and hobby. I have written a book on Indian and Sri Lankan Cookery for Pru Leith, and I contributed to a book published by Murdoch called The Food Of India. I also went on a Cordon Bleu cookery course in Paris, and to my amazement I won the competition.
I would like to pass on my skills and knowledge to others, and am keen to make a cookery programme about Indian and Sri Lankan cooking. I also have a website which people can use to send me queries.
Where do you go to shop for ingredients?
I mainly shop in supermarkets, but I also go to local Asian food stores. When I arrived in Cardiff, coriander leaves were a rarity. Now almost everything is available. The eating habits of the nation have changed in the last few decades. I think this is due to the fact that more people are able to travel, and try new food.
There are a few shops in London that I recommend, and I still go to sometimes. Wing Yip in Edgware Road is excellent for Chinese and Indian ingredients. Natco in Wembley is also good, and Liliniya is good.
My husband's job means that we travel around the world a lot, so I can buy ingredients directly from different countries. I have been to Japan ten times, and we often go to India, Australia, Europe and America.
What do you most enjoy cooking?
My favourite dish is Sri Lankan Prawn Curry. This is spicy hot and is made with a coconut sauce.
The main influences in Sri Lankan cooking are coconut, spices and plenty of chilli. The food in North India is quite mild, but as you travel south the food gets hotter until you get to Sri Lanka where it is dynamite.
One explanation for this could be that as you go further south, the climate becomes hotter. Chillis make you sweat, and therefore could help you to cope with the climate. Also, chillis release endorphins which give you a high. The word curry is actually from the South Indian dialect Malayalam. The original word kari is used to describe a spicy stew like dish.
Sri Lankan Christmas Cake
Another recipe I enjoy making is Sri Lankan Christmas Cake with twenty five eggs. Sri Lanka has a history of European colonisation, first by the Portuguese, then the Dutch and finally the British. The cake is a result of this colonisation.
Has living in Wales influenced your cooking?
I sometimes like to cook a roast leg of lamb. In general though, I prefer to cook and eat the Sri Lankan way. Eating spicy chilli hot food is a part of my upbringing. My children are different. They cook a range of food and are influenced by chefs such as Jamie Oliver and Nigella Lawson.
Is food an important part of festivals and Sri Lankan community gatherings? Priya describes Sri Lankan festivals
There are about forty Sri Lankan families in South Wales, most of whom are doctors. We have a Sri Lankan Cultural and Sports Association which meets four times a year, as well as holding cricket events.
Sri Lanka is an island with a population of fifteen million. The majority are Buddhists, but there are also Hindus and Christians and some Muslims. Our celebrations reflect all these religions.
The role food plays in Sinhalese New Year
One of the biggest celebrations is Sinhalese and Tamil New Year which takes place in April. It is similar to Christmas in that we spend time with our families and relatives. Food is important in both the ritual and the social aspects of the festival. We always boil a pan of milk until it spills over to signify abundance. We also serve sweet meats and rice cooked in coconut milk which we take round to our neighbours.
The role of food in Hindu and Buddhist celebrations
In October there is a big Hindu celebration called Shiva-ratri (Shiva's night). This is a seven day celebration with plenty of vegetarian food.
There is also a day in October where Buddhist priests come from London and we give alms. Traditionally Buddhist monks rely on the public to feed them, and this day is a reference to that practice. It is thought that if you give food to the monks you will gain merit, and thus a better position in your next life.
We celebrate Christmas with a dinner dance. The Sri Lankan community here is quite Westernised, and this event involves Western music and food. We are a community where East meets West in terms of both culture and food.
Do you enjoy eating out?
I enjoy eating out, but am disappointed with Indian restaurants in South Wales. Indian food in this country is driven by Western perceptions of what it should be. I remember doing research about food colouring in Chicken Tikka Tandoori. The restaurant managers felt that if they didn't colour their food, then people wouldn't buy it.
There is a myth here that the hotter the food the more authentic it is, and eating curry is always an affair to brag about. India is bigger than Europe and there are many regional variations. A lot of Indian food isn't hot at all. Also, there is more emphasis on vegetarian food in India. In Sri Lanka, fifteen per cent of the population are from South India where vegetarian specialities are predominant. In contrast, Indian restaurants here offer mainly meat and carbohydrate dishes. Vegetable dishes are termed as side dishes which I have never understood.
Your comments
Angela Brennan, Edinburgh
Dave Rogers - thanks very much for stating that website. Just went on it and love the fact that I can get it all here in the UK. I used to buy my spices when I go back to Malaysia on my yearly trip. I love Indian food, primarily south Indian food - so quite spicy. Unfortunately in Scotland the Indian restaurants all serve northern Indian food, so I cook lots of Indian food. I just printed Priya's Sri Lankan Red chicken recipe to try out.
Yvette Paulusz, Melbourne, Australia
Hi Priya,Do you know of any high-quality Sri Lankan cake and confectionary shops in the UK, which would be prepared to accept an overseas order, and deliver the food (e.g., Love cake, short eats, Christmas cake)to an address in Utrecht, Netherlands? My cousin loves Sri Lankan food (as I do), but can't find any Sri Lankan cake/confectionary shops in the Netherlands. We are about to exchange belated Christmas gifts, so I wondered if I could place an order with a Sri Lankan firm in the UK. It should be cheaper than posting a parcel from Australia where the air mail rates for parcels to Europe are extremely high.
Karthik Ravi
This is one person who is speaking and knows the truth about the ethinicity of the Indian and Sri Lankan food. Here, Priya is 100% correct. There are so many restaurants in South Wales, infact almost the whole of the UK where there are so many popular restaurants who claim to have the pure Indian food available in the country but sadly most of the dishes made and sold here are not even cooked or prepared anywhere in India. In fact, the people in India and Sri Lanka will be surprised to hear the name of the dishes which is prepared here. I really don't understand how some people claim themselves for cooking the real and the best Indian dishes and also argue of being genuine?
Mike Ahmed, Cardiff Bay
I have noted your statement that you do not rate Indian restaurants in south wales; I take this as an offence along with many of my colleagues! In south Wales there are a vast number of excellent outlets serving a celebration of culinary delights from various origins of Asia, presented in exempeliary surroundings. You do not appear to be from within the industry therefore you may not have the knowledge of how much dedication has been provided by restaurants to invite valued customers with a wide variety of vegetarian and non vegetarian specialities to please both western customers as well as ethnic tastes, so please do not critise my customers by saying that the food is merely imitated for the western customers because our menus are for all sectors of the community.
Doreen Smith
We lived in Colombo for 4 years and I just loved Bibikkan Cake. Have you any idea where I can get Kithul Treacle in the UK - or its equivalent? Or perhaps you have a recipe that you can share that doesn't use it. Thank you.
Jenny Carnie - Dubai
I think she's right about the Sri Lankan food. I'm very interested in cooking all kinds of food, but I like Sri Lankan food best.
Dave Rogers
I too became fed up with restaurant food so I started to cook for myself. We don't have a good Asian store round here but I found www.spicesofindia.co.uk an excellent place to buy online and they are really helpful and friendly people there.
Shriy from Merthyr Tydfil
Interesting information, good to know about what we get at local Indian restaurants, as we experience eating out at different cities. It makes a such a differace to the food we eat. It is high time that the local restaurants in Wales don't undermine our taste.
Hannah from London
My husband and I are moving to Cardiff from Tooting in South London in the spring, and were hoping that we would be able to find a nice local Sri Lankan resturant serving Kotthu, lovely brinjal curries and wonderful short eats. It seems as if we have been spoilt with our choice of 3 fabulous sri lankan restuarants within a 5 minute walk of our house! Priya, please would you open a restaurant, and we will be there every night!
Jane from Sri Lanka
I enjoyed reading your view on cooking. There is a Spice Festival being held in Colombo in October 2005. Do you ever visit Sri Lanka. We publish monthly travelsrilanka magazine which has an eclectic collection of articles for those interested in travelling around Sri Lanka.
Iestyn from Pontypridd
I have to say that in general the comments on Indian food in south Wales are very fair. There are exceptions though and I feel that the food at Cinnamon Tree is very good (in Nantgarw, haven't been to the other so can't comment). The market forces it to do the standard Anglo-Indian dishes but even these are well cooked and use quality ingredients. There are also some real gems on the menu with a clear regional identity especially in the vegetarian section. There are also some interesting new fusiony dishes - bear in mind that flavour and not authenticity is an end in itself.
Sheila Bluhm, South Africa
Hi, I was looking for the recipe for the hot & spicy prawn curry but could not find it.
Ranjini from New Zealand
This comment is not about Priya's taste in food. She mentioned about a Hindu celeberation called Shiva-ratri which comes in February/March and Nava-ratri in October(nine days).
Saran from Newport
Yes, I agree with Priya's view on the Indian foods available in South Wales, but I thought the word 'kari' came out of Tamil and not malayalam. Correct me if I am wrong.
Mano, Newport
It is a well known fact that the Indian foods we get here in South Wales are not authentic food as we get in India/Srilanka. I would like to appreciate Priya's work on revealing the genuine art of Srilankan and Indian food to the world. As Priya has described, that the taste of the food and ingredients used are different in all regions in India, there are lots of differences between Srilankan food and South Indian food too. In South India, though we don't use colours for all the dishes, we use colours for some of dishes we make like bhajji, biriyani, pattani(Peas). The common one is called 'Kesari powder'. And we use different colours for sweets and mixtures too(popular snack). Colours give more appealing look to the food, but it's always advisable to avoid food colours.
Pete Smith from Luton
I adore spicy Indian food, but after many years of eating in Indian restaurants my system eventually rebelled and became intolerant to food colourings. Unable to eat in restaurants anymore, I started to make my own curries - including making my own curry powders - and now, thanks to Charmaine Solomon's book, I am quite an accomplished curry cook.
Richard Goulstone from Cardiff
So many restaurants serve twelve different kinds of korma/tikka masala - mutually indistinguishable but for their colour. Admittedly this is what a lot of people like, but if they tasted real Indian food they would see the difference. I adore Indian food, and live in an area full of Indian restaurants (Albany Road, Roath) but haven't yet been able to find anywhere which serves anything but this dull tosh!
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